Such a tough week for the Palestinians, with Arafat on death bed, Bush re-elected

By Yasser Al-Banna, IOL Correspondent

GAZA, November 5 (IslamOnline.net) – Ruling out US President George W. Bush would change his pro-Israel stances after winning a second White House term, experts and analysts agreed the Palestinians were facing tough times and national unity had now become their only choice.

“Having a unified Palestinian leadership will simply mean the US administration can not pick some to talk to or others to exclude,” Arab Israeli member of Knesset, Azmi Beshara, told IslamOnline.net.

Beshara was apparently referring to US and Israeli demands for the past couple of years that Arafat be “removed” from the helm of the Palestinian Authority.

On the effects Bush’s re-election is expected to have on the Palestinian resistance against Israel’s occupation, Beshara highlighted the necessity of finding new means of resistance and reconsidering currently used to settle upon the best effective ways to hurt the Israeli occupation, without losing the support of the world peoples.

“It is highly important to reconsider the means of struggle, evaluate their pros and cons and assess the ability of the Palestinian people to handle the consequences, especially that there seems no peaceful solution in the near future.”

“The presence of a unified leadership will give the Palestinians the chance to study that crucial point, without fear some faction might go off track. The dilemma of the Palestinians now is that each faction considers itself the one and only speaker of the people and the cause.”

Beshara did not elaborate on what resistance means he believed needed reconsideration, but it could be bomb attacks against Israeli targets within what is now known as Israel.

Without naming anything in specific, Beshara spoke of “new resistance methods whose consequences can be borne by the Palestinian people on the long run and can be defended on the international arena and before our friends”.

“In addition, such means should then be capable of causing divisions in the Israeli society.”

Future Stance

Beshara saw it was high time for the Palestinians to throw away any differences

Beshara did not see much difference between Bush and other US presidents in relation to the Palestinian struggle with the power occupying their lands, namely Israel.

He further elaborated, stressing that the difference may be that Bush’s stances on the Palestinian cause are identical with those of Israel’s far-right, headed by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Bush demonstrated such identification in his letter of guarantees to Sharon, dropping the right of return of the Palestinian refugees and withdrawal from the Arab lands occupied in 1967.

Bush had triggered Arab wrath by saying Palestinian refugees could not return to land lost in 1948 and then exchanged with Sharon letters cementing his position, in what has been dubbed as a “Bushfour Promise”.

The United Nations and the European Union had then rebuked the Bush’s policy shift, which completely ignored dozens of UN resolutions in that regard.

Touching on whether Bush would change his policies or maintain them further during the coming four years, Beshara said Bush was more likely to continue the same path, with cosmetic changes only, if any.

Bush would either continue his hostile policies against the Arabs and Palestinians, or adopt more realistic policies concerning the use of military power in the region and the Palestinian cause.

“Even if Bush adopts more realistic policies, we have to realize that such policies would not go against his guarantees to Sharon on issues of final settlement, like occupied Jerusalem, refugees, settlements and final borders.

“The guarantees are binding to the Bush administration, so I rule out possibility he would play a positive role in the Palestinian issue.”

“Help Yourself”

Meanwhile, Palestinian thinker and director of the national center for studies and researches in Gaza , Abdullah Al Hurani, urged Palestinian figures, leaders and people to stop throwing their lots totally with foreign powers, stressing the need for adopting the “help yourself” approach, especially with Bush’s reelection.

“The foreign factor in any equation depends completely, in its effects, on the internal front.

“So, we have to stop pinning hopes on American presidents, this one or others.”

He urged the Palestinian leaders to rally their efforts, unify their internal front and comply with the genuine will of the people to help strengthen the internal front.

“By doing that, we would force the international community, including the United States, to reconsider current policies toward the Palestinian cause.

“We have to pay more attention to the internal front and strengthen it, enhance the national unity, draw up a national program and stamp out corruption.”

He further underlined the importance of drawing up a unified Palestinian project that includes options of resistance and others for negotiations to build on.

“It is highly important to agree on a program that includes both resistance and political solutions.

“We must know when, where and how to resist. We also should know when to stop armed resistance, make way for political confrontations.”

No Effect on Resistance

Weighing in, Palestinian legislative council member, Emad Al-Falluji, believes that serious talks with Bush during his second term in office could prove more productive than before, citing Bush would not be seeking any more electoral gains.

“There should be intensive diplomatic efforts with the new Bush administration as the US president would be more flexible now.”

He underlined the need to stress to the American people to reconsider the policies on the Palestinian cause in a bid to improve the image of the United States in the Arab and Islamic countries.

“We will keep telling the Americans that reining Israel is a necessary step to strike balance in the region.”

He ruled out that Bush’s re-election would negatively affect the Palestinian resistance.

“The Palestinian people don’t pin high hopes on the US elections nor link resistance against the occupation with other countries as the Palestinian Intifada is a direct reaction of occupation.

“We don’t believe Bush’s re-election would affect the Palestinian struggle as it is  a Palestinian choice, dictated by Israel’s occupation.

“Ending the occupation is a must to stop the Intifada.

“The Israeli security could never be realized away from the security of the Palestinians. The Palestinians would never be secure unless they could establish their state with Al-Quds (occupied Jerusalem ) as its capital. It is that simple”

He noted that resistance against occupation is a legitimate right, stressing that Bush’s insisting on dubbing Palestinian resistance as “terrorism” would not negatively affect the Palestinians.